Baby Boom Four: It All Makes Sense Now
by DannyPhanto fan
Summary: The final part of the Baby Boom Saga. The kids are missing, the adults are missing. Can they find and save their families or is Young Justice doomed to lose everything they hold near and dear?
1. Chapter 1

**Baby Boom Four: It All Makes Sense Now**

**Disclaimer**_**: I do not own Young Justice and/or any and/or all concepts and/or characters. It all belongs to DC Comics and Cartoon Network. The Speed Force scene is lifted, dialogue and all, with some modifications of course, from Justice League episode, "Divided We Fall." It was just so awesome I had to use it. I am a mere Fanfiction author. With far too much time on her hands and no social life. **_

**Rated: **_**T**_

**Previously On:**

_They stumbled out of their rooms, unbelievably groggy and disoriented, and feeling amazingly weak, to the nursery only to find every crib empty. They did not out and out panic; they searched each room and every nook and cranny, realizing that Lian was missing from her room as well._

**Prologue:**

"Deactivate threat level?" the computer asked for confirmation and with heavy hearts they confirmed, each punching in their mentors' override codes. Since that horrible morning two months ago when they discovered their children missing their mentors had gone missing. It happened one by one and each vanishing marked by the remaining persons waking up after a night's sleep groggy with sluggish. Batman had discovered they were being dosed by a sedative during each kidnapping, most probably in a gaseous form. However, even he was gone now. Everyone Young Justice relied on for anything was gone. Even the civilian members of the extended JLA/Young Justice close knit family; Alfred, Joan Garrick, Mister and Missus West (Wally's parents), Martha and Jonathon Kent; the dogs were missing too! Only Young Justice (plus Linda and Precious) remained. They had however managed to save the royal family of Atlantis, but only by putting a hefty bounty on each of their heads should they come ashore before the all-clear was given.

"Threat Level None Existent, Reserves Deactivated." The computer spoke. The League's entire roster, reserves and all, had been activated since the Lanterns had crash landed on Paradise Island. But now Young Justice could not let them be hunted down and captured, not with the main Big Seven missing. They couldn't sacrifice the Earth's defenses just to save their family.

Besides, they had combed every inch of Earth's landmasses; the Atlanteans had combed every inch, nook, and cranny of the ocean, even going into forbidden and tainted areas. Mystics, witches, wizards and even one or two demons of all power levels had search the planes above and below their own, even ones parallel to their own. The Lanterns were actively searching space, as was every friendly alien race they could call in favors to. They even had a time-traveler or two looking in the distant past and future. However, it had all been for naught, no sign of the missing to be found.

It was a well known fact that the first forty-eight hours after a child is kidnapped are the most crucial….after that window closes the chances of finding said child, of finding said child alive, decreased significantly with each passing hour. Now the forty hour rule applied to any missing person case but it was especially true in those cases of missing children…and they had wasted those forty eight hours getting confirmation that the kids were indeed missing and not just running amok with relatives or other League members. With superpowers in play anything was possible…except finding their loved ones.

They moved away from the computer, into the dark cave that had been once so warm and inviting. Each teen seemed to have aged significantly, lines being etched into their once smooth and lively faces by fear, sorrow, and regret. The relationships between lovers and parents were decaying as each only blamed themselves for letting this happen and thus withdrew from their partner. Only Linda and Wally remained strong together, often entwined on the couch as if to make sure each other was still there but as silent as everyone else. (Kyle remained in the spare bedroom).

Then the phone rang. Nobody had the courage to pick it up, each dreading the news it might bring.

The message machine came on, M'gann's cheery voice asking the calling to leave a message after a tone, "Yo! Kid! We found the Baby Bat!"

Wally was up and on the phone within a jiffy, saying, "CC, that you?"

He began grinning, jotting down information so fast that the paper began to smoke, saying suddenly, "Thank you! Thank you Leo! I'll be right out to grab them! Thank you thank you thank you!" he hung up, spinning around, "The Rogues found Helena and Krypto, and info on what's going on!"

"Where?"

"Beneath Keystone Natural History Museum." He flashed away, coming back with Helena in one arm and Krypto under the other.

"Helena!" Dick grabbed his little sister, pulling her close, "Oh my god Helena. Thank god."

"Icky!" Helena squealed happily, hugging him just as tightly.

Wally left again, coming back with a computer tower before leaving again and this time bringing back a filing cabinet.

"Here's all the info they found," he said, "and they've promised to keep looking."

"Alright people," Robin spoke, a new light coming to his face, a light that was mirrored in his comrades' faces, "let's show them who they ticked off!"

"Yeah!"

"Wally, hook up that computer. If there's a password start cracking it."

"Yes sir your battiness sir!"

"Linda; call the Amazons, we've got a lead and need them to be prepped for a fight."

"Right."

"Art, Roy, get into the Most Wanted List and see who'd have motive strong enough to work together, I've got this nasty feeling it's a team up."

"Sure."

"M'gann, get that muzzle off Krypto, Conner take him for a walk while M'gann I need you to start digging through the League's computer system. Conner when Krypto's good put him with Precious and start helping M'gann…"

"Right."

"What can I do?" Kyle appeared.

"Get in touch with a Guardian, we need all the info they can give us. Let's do this people!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Part One:**

"Op. Next Gen Heroes," Robin read aloud, "the Light decided they needed to raise children of Supers in order to control them. They've got a whole roster; our kids aren't the only ones they engineered the conceptions of…Lex Luthor's involved…."

Conner's hands fisted, "Robin, come on, I'm gonna go talk with him…"

A half hour later the two teens were entering the Lexcorp building. Conner grabbed the phone from the secretary's ear, slamming it down onto the receiver, demanding, "Lex Luthor, where is he?"

"Ah, young Conner Kent…and Robin the boy wonder, to what do I owe this visit?" a suave voice spoke and both teens spun around to see Lex Luthor.

"We need to talk." Conner growled.

Robin put a hand on the clone's shoulder, stepping forward to say, "Mister Luthor, we need your help. We need to tell you something and then we need your help. Please Mister Luthor."

Luthor stared at them for a few minutes before nodding and leading them to his non-Kryptonited office. When they reached it, and had sat down Robin began, "You do know that Conner is a clone right?"

"Yes," Lex nodded slightly, smirking. It was his order that created Conner…

"Of Superman?"

"Yes." The Alien had left more than enough samples behind when fighting his cronies.

"Well he wasn't the only clone Cadmus created, but he was the only one that survived. The Kryptonian DNA wasn't stable enough and so they all decayed into nothing. When they built Conner they inserted human DNA into the mix, stabilizing him…You, Mister Luthor, are his second father. Here," Robin pulled a syringe from his belt, uncapping the needle and taking a blood sample from Conner before recapping it and handing it over to Luthor, "a sample for your labs to test and retest…"

A woman came in, taking the sample and leaving. Within fifteen minutes she returned with a piece of paper, handing it to her boss before leaving again. Luthor read and reread and re-reread the results. The boys were telling the truth. Luthor stared at Conner, shocked. Someone had used his DNA, combing it with the Alien's to create the person who would have been his greatest weapon?

Luthor put the paper down, a strange new glint in his eyes, "If I'm going to help you I want visitation nights...every Saturday and half your birthday at least…" He had an heir, finally. Not the heir he'd have wanted but he was getting on in years and…well beggars can't choosers at this point in life.

"We'll see to it that some arrangement is made," Robin nodded, "but not soon, we need your help."

Luthor nodded, pressing a button on his desktop phone and saying, "Miss Tresser, please bring Jason to me."

"Of course sir." Three descendents, three heirs. (The Light had made the biggest mistake of their careers.)

Luthor looked to the young men in his office, saying, "I only have one of them and I don't know where they're keeping the others." (If he did he'd lead the charge.)

"How do we know you're telling us the truth?" Conner demanded.

"I've spent years trying to create an heir to my name, my fortune, my legacy," Luthor's voice was hard, steely, and he was clearly trying to rebuke his 'son', "Now I have three. I would not purposefully seek to endanger my heirs."

A young blonde woman came in, carrying Jason. The boy seemed happy enough, and had obviously been well cared for. Nevertheless, as soon as he saw his father he leapt from his caretaker's arms and flew to Conner. Conner grabbed his son, pulling him close, "Oh thank god…."

"The Light is keeping the kids and your mentors separated from each other and always on the move," Luthor explained.

"You don't know where they are?" Robin asked.

"No, only that they are on Earth," Luthor told him.

"Who is the Light?"

"I do not know, we keep ourselves hidden from each other in case of a double crossing. If one of us falls, the others will not."

"Would you mind…?"

"I will try to find out as much as I possibly can," Luthor agreed.

"Thank you." Robin nodded, standing up and handing Luthor a business card, "Contact us with whatever you you can get."

"I will."

As soon as Robin and Conner came home with Jason everyone crowded around them although they all made way for M'gann to pick her son up and hold him close. Her shoulders relaxed just a bit and her form seemed less strained altogether but still her heart cried for her still missing son. Jason hugged his mother just as tightly, feeling the immense relief and grief as though was his own. (Conner was giving off the same feelings).

"We've gotten Luthor on our side," Robin explained to the group, "and everyone's on Earth but they're all being moved continuously to keep us looking."

Robin's cell-phone rang; he grabbed it and looked at the caller ID, it was Unknown, "Hello?"

"They've got one of the children somewhere in the African Congo, they just moved them there; it'll be eight hours before they move again." Luthor hung up as abruptly as he had called.

"Okay," Robin took charge, "M'gann, Artemis, Kyle, you three stay here with Jason and Helena and the dogs. Everyone else we're heading for the Congo. We've got an eight hour time limit and a lot of ground to cover, let's go!"

And they all rushed out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part Two:**

Lian was scared, terrified. At least Alfred and Missus Kent were with her. Except Missus Kent was hurt and Alfred had been beaten up by the bad people. And she was in a cage and she was cold and hungry and her arm really hurt. She knew her arm was broken. And she had to go to the bathroom really really badly.

"Can I please use the potty?" she begged the bad man that had her.

"Shut up ya little snot nosed brat." Was the reply.

"I do not suggest you speak to my daughter that way again." A woman had appeared, "There has been a change of plans Lenny…" with a quick calm movement she killed the guard, pressing the button to open Lian's cage.

"Come here kiddo," Cheshire said as she picked her daughter up, her eyes narrowing when the little girl cried out in pain. She set her back down, noticing her broken arm, "who hurt you sweet one?"

"The bad people…"

Cheshire went to grab a first aid kit and made a makeshift splint.

"Who are you?" Lian asked curiously.

"Your mother." Cheshire replied honestly as she worked.

"Are you taking me home with you?"

"No darling. I'm a bad person too; I kill people for money and fun. So I'm going to get you out of here and back to your father…"

"What about Alfred and Miss-sus Kent?"

"I cannot help them, but I can help you. But I need you to trust me, can you trust me?"

"But you're a bad lady, why should I trust you?"

"Because I'll never hurt you."

"Not even for a zillion dollars?"

Cheshire smiled, "Not even for a zillion dollars."

Lian looked to the two adults, biting her lip, before nodding and letting Cheshire pick her up. With an easy and quick movement Cheshire positioned Lian upon her back like a baby monkey and they took off.

Within two hours of their exit Young Justice appeared.

"Alfred!" Robin rushed to his grandfather figure, untying the butler quickly, "Are you okay? Who gave you that shiner? Where's the kid?"

"Miss Lian was taken by Cheshire," the butler spoke steadily, "Cheshire said she was bringing her back to Miss Lian's father; the bruising was given to me by our abductors but I am otherwise okay…."

"Grandma, don't move. Your pelvic bone's broken." Conner told Martha, having scanned her with his x-ray vision.

"No worries Conner," she laughed before wincing.

"How are we going to evacuate her?" Kaldur'ahm asked; the nearest village, their starting point, was a few good miles away.

"Rob! You need to call Lex, tell him my grandma's hurt and we need a medical airlift." Conner called to the boy wonder.

"Right." Robin nodded, pulling out his cell-phone, dialing the number and putting in the request. Lex sent out his personal medical team, not wanting Conner to have any reason to hate him; beyond the whole villainy thing. They soon heard the jet and a team came in with a gurney and transferred Martha to it, carrying her out. A second gurney came in for Alfred and then the jet left for Metropolis.

"What are we going to do for Lian?" Roy demanded.

"Cheshire was probably telling the truth," he was soothed, "meaning that if she was she's probably heading for the nearest village to get supplies and then to the nearest airport, small or big it won't matter as long as it can get them either into America or a place that can do that…Wally, take Roy and start with the nearest village, when you hit the Nile stop."

"Okay." Roy hopped onto Wally's back as if getting a piggy back ride and they took off.

"Conner, Linda, Kal, help me grab all the info here, top priority's the hard-drives and hardcopies. Conner, search the body; see if he has an ID or any thumb-drives."

"Okay." Conner nodded.

Hours later they returned home, computer towers and filing cabinets in tow, to find Lex Luthor sitting on the couch, playing with Jason as if doing so was the most interesting activity he had ever done.

"You left a very messy trail," Lex chastised them, "it was very easy to find your base…No wonder we had such ease sneaking in and out; Robin, I'd like to speak to you about updating your security…." He paused, looking down at Jason and then smiling, which was quite creepy for Robin, Roy, and Wally at least, before saying, "My my, aren't you a smart boy? I must see to it that you get a proper education, you'll be going to Harvard, and then you can be a ruthless businessman just like your Grandpa Lex instead of a mere reporter like The Alien."

A light bulb almost appeared over Linda's head, "Mister Luthor, you wouldn't happen to have a way to hire an assassin would you?"

Luthor's left eyebrow went up, "I may, who is it you wish…taken care off?"

"Cheshire has my daughter," Roy broke in, "she's her mother and she took Lian from the Congo and is supposedly bringing her back to me but we have no way of establishing contact…Linda was thinking that because you're, you know, evil, you might have her on speed dial or something."

"I am not 'evil'." Luthor replied calmly, "I merely wish to let mankind take back our destiny and not become the subjects of an alien who has no right by law to do as he does. If I tend to go about doing that in less than admirable ways and yet accomplish the goals I set out towards then the ends justify the means in my eyes…" he then proceeded to mumble, "Though I suppose I might have to put aside my differences with the Alien…" before raising his voice back to a normal volume, "Yes. I have a way of contacting 'Cheshire'…" he dug into his breast pocket and pulled out a cell-phone. Holding Jason in one arm he dialed a number and put the phone to his ear. He began speaking Vietnamese before holding out the phone to Roy, "Here you go."

Roy took the phone and put it to his ear, asking cautiously, "Cheshire?"

"Roy Harper?"

"Yes."

"Please hold on." He could hear movement, before he heard, "Daddy?"

He grinned, sighing in relief, "Hey sweet-pea."

"Hold on Daddy." He heard her say to someone on the other end, "Yep, it's my Daddy." before she came back, "Hi Daddy! Mommy's really nice even if she's a bad lady…"

"So she's taking good care of you?"

"Yep! We're on a plane ride to where the president lives and then we're gonna go to Ha-Why-ee to meet you!"

"Glad to hear it," he smiled happily, "listen I need to talk to your Mommy okay?"

"Okay, love you."

"Love you too baby; can't wait til you get home."

"Me neither. Have fun."

"I will…" Cheshire came back onto the phone, "I am taking her to Washington D.C. There we will board another flight to Honolulu Hawaii."

"We'll meet you in D.C."

"That is acceptable."

"Cheshire, I've been wondering, why did you help create her?"

"Hold on," he heard, "Lian, I have to use the restroom. Stay in your seat and please don't speak with strangers…" before he heard Cheshire get up, walk to the bathroom and lock herself in.

"The Light requested an egg and paid me handsomely for it. However, they also put it into my contract with them that the child to come from said egg would be treated like royalty. The fact that they broke that promise renders my contract with them void. The fact they used her for a test subject in the creation of a super-serum is why I led you to her in the first place…"

"You led me to the…?"

"Yes, I am in no position to raise her myself. When you began following Kobra's trail of illegal drugs I used it as my chance…"

"Okay. We'll meet you in D.C. Thank you Cheshire…"

"No, thank you Roy." And she hung up and Roy handed Luthor his phone.

"You need a ride to D.C." Luthor spoke calmly, hitting a speed dial.

"No, we can use M'gann's ship…"

"Nonsense…Hello, Garrett, ready the jet, Happy Harbor. Thank you." Luthor hung up, standing up and saying, "Come, he shall be here soon enough."


	4. Chapter 4

**Part Three:**

Bruce could feel his body again; the sedative was wearing off again. Slowly he began to work with his restraints, freezing and staring at the ceiling blankly whenever a guard came near. He couldn't risk staying there another day. From his left he heard Mia crying softly and he redoubled his efforts, he had to get them out of here.

Within an hour his hands were free and he began working on his feet, knowing that this was crunch time. Within another hour he was free. Waiting until the guard had made his hourly walk through before creeping from the table. They were foolish, keeping his belt in the same room as him. Oh well, his gain. With his tools he was able to unlock Mia and then sneak from the base with her. He found that they were on the edge of a desert, possibly the Sahara or Gobi, but that he could see black smoke rising in the distance, most probably that of a cooking fire and so they took off out of the desert.

Oliver had similar ideas and had broken free, finding that he was being held with Iris and Nerissa. After picking their locks and disabling the guards they ventured from where they were being held to find that they were in Ireland but nowhere near civilization, but they could see a village in the distance and so they began the hike down to it.

Dinah had freed herself, Laura, and the Wests and they had discovered they were somewhere in the Arctic Circle.

"Maybe we can call out," Missus West said, beginning to fiddle with the communications controls of the base. Her husband and Dinah joined her as she did so. Laura floated in the background, very scared and wanting to see her Mommy and Daddy.

Somewhere in China Selina had freed herself and Lois and they had proceeded to kick ass and take names. After that they hiked into the nearest village, caught a farmer's truck into a town where they caught a train into Beijing using Selina's credit card number to buy the tickets and an actual meal. Once in Beijing they had checked into one of the best hotels and called home, very surprised and highly worried when Lex Luthor picked up.

Lex for his part was quite glad that he had thought to keep his personal jet at Honolulu Airport. Young Justice, plus Helena, Linda, Lian, Jason, and Krypto, once again filed onto the plane, thanking Lex profusely as they did so. Within a six hour time frame they had made it to Beijing.

"Mama!" Helena called when she saw Selina.

"Helena!" she grabbed her daughter from her stepson, pulling her close, "Oh thank god, are you alright Kit?"

"Yep!" Helena snuggled into her, finally relaxing.

Then suddenly Robin's cell-phone went off, "Hello?"

"Dick, it's Dinah. I've got the Wests and Laura with me. I don't know exactly where we are but we're somewhere near Canada's top border."

"Right, we'll be right there, I can use your signal to shrink the search area so stay on the line with me."

"Yeah, not going anywhere anytime soon…"

"Guys," Robin said to his team, "we need to get a helicopter. Bruce has one in the hanger at the Manor."

They all nodded, boarding Lex One again. They made the trip back to Gotham in record time, and then back to the Manor in record time as well. However, during that trip they got a call from Oliver and Bruce.

"Okay," Robin spoke as they went down into the hanger, Lex had stayed at the airport, "Linda, Wally, you take the Bat-Jet to pick up Oliver, Iris, and Nerissa. Roy, you take the Batwing to grab Bruce and Mia. I'll take the Bat-Hawk with M'gann to get Dinah, the Wests, and Laura. The ones staying home stay in the cave, I'm putting it into lockdown mode. Everyone got their assignments?"

Everyone nodded although they looked hesitantly to their kids.

"We'll keep them safe," the home team promised.

'_I promise he'll be safe_.' Conner vowed M'gann telepathically.

She bit her lip but nodded, kissing Jason's forehead and Conner's cheek before joining Robin.

"Everyone able to radio contact?" Robin asked as soon as everyone was set.

"This's Bat-Jet, waiting for the all clear," Wally replied over the radio.

"Copy that KF, this is Batwing VI waiting for takeoff," Roy joined in, "Do you read me, over?"

"Copy that Archer; copy that KF I read you loud and clear. Mission control you read us?"

"Affirmative," Selina replied, "opening hanger doors now, stand by."

Slowly the hanger doors slid back into their jams and let a ray of light into the darkness. Robin, M'gann, and the Bat-Hawk left first, followed by Roy and the Batwing. Wally and Linda had to use rocket boosters, in light of not having a runaway to pick up speed on, to take off and then the hanger doors slipped closed again.

Kyle stared at the door with shame; he had no way to help them. Then he shook his head, giving himself a harsh mental slap and finding his determination. Pulling his mentors' rings from his pocket he slipped them onto his fingers, one on either side of his own blue one. They were fully charged at least but he still recited an oath, melding his with theirs, "In brightest day. In blackest night. While the embers of hope still burn bright. I will make evil run at my sight. You obey me now, Lanterns' Light!"

The once unassuming rings regained their emerald glow, causing his to glow blue once again. His once completely blue uniform turned a turquoise color and he ordered the rings, "Take me to Hal Jordan or John Stewart!" Without warning he took off, the hanger doors being forced open by turquoise energy to allow his departure. He bulleted through the air, his fisted ring hand and arm almost being ripped from his shoulder by the powerful rings he wore. Then suddenly he was encased in turquoise energy as the rings forced him beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, pulling him through the waters and into a grotto whose only entrance and exit was hidden beneath the waves. He was pulled up into a cavern, being set on his feet upon the shore.

"Hey!" a guard cried out, sounding the alarm and bringing reinforcements. Unfortunately for them Kyle had always been a little geek and so had plenty of tabletop gaming and comic book reading under his belt. Using one of the green rings he created a werewolf in Crinos form. Using his blue ring he summoned up a starved, frenzied, Lost-To-It's-Beast, vampire and with the second green ring he summoned an old gaming staple, a great European dragon.

"Let's get dangerous!" he had summoned for his own use a bo-staff, weighted at one end for blunt force use.

"_**AHHHHHHHHHHHH!**_" they went to war. The werewolf and vampire worked by draining their victims of psychic energies and the energy needed to move around, Kyle just bludgeoned his opponents into unconsciousness. His dragon worked by intimidating it's victims into surrendering, or jumping into the exit pool. Kyle recalled his creations, powering his rings by the energies they had siphoned off. With his enemies downed he ventured further into the caves, using his blue ring to light the way. However he became hopelessly lost after a few minutes and again commanded the rings to take him to Hal or John. The rings responded, a green trail appearing to lead him through the caves and into the central compound, finding John and Wonder Woman bound and gagged, stripped to their undergarments.

"By Hera's blessing!" Diana cried out with relief, being absolutely useless because when an Amazon was bound by a man she lost all her god gifted powers. She rather didn't like being a damsel in distress.

"Kyle," John said, impressed by the commotion they had heard earlier

"Hold on here." The boy lantern cut through their bindings, before blasting a hole into the ceiling to open the top up to the clear blue sky and sunlight. Another burst of turquoise light created a helicopter, "This'll take you back to Wayne Manor…" a rope with a foot loop descended to load the Lantern and Amazon up.

"Find me Hal Jordan!" Kyle demanded of the three rings he wore and once again he was jerked into flight and pulled through the atmosphere at an astounding speed. He was pulled past Australia, down into the South Pole. The rings covered him again, keeping him warm despite the subzero temperatures. They pulled him to what looked to be a military base, landing him just inside the perimeter. This time when the guards came he summoned a polar-bear dog, another dragon, and a very large six-legged flying bison. His own personal weapon was boomerang with sharpened edges. They worked their way into the base, finding Hal, J'onn, and Joan Garrick tied up.

This time he was about to go home with them, in an energy constructed plane when they got the distress call over the radio, "Batwing VI to unknown jets, Batwing VI to unknown jets stand down! I repeat stand down! There are children aboard; I repeat there are children aboard. Abort, abort!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Part Four:**

Batman had been in a lot of tight jams but this had to be the worst of his career. He had Roy and Mia with him, they were over the spot where the Titanic sank, it was January so the waters would be freezing, and he currently had ten military jets bearing down on them from all directions. Moreover, they were using the outdated Batwing VI instead of the newest model, the Batwing VII.

"Hold on!" they went into a roll, barely missing being hit. He then sent the plane straight towards the waters, pulling out at the last minute into a steep hike back into the sky. Two of the enemy hit the water, breaking apart on impact but Batman wasn't paying them any attention as he was busy praying that the engines wouldn't stall on them. Damn, there were heat-seekers on their tail. "You better be belted in! Brace for impact!" He again aimed for the ocean, pressing a button at the last second. The Batwing turned into the Bat-Submarine and they sped through the water, using the frigid temperatures to confuse the missiles. Within an hour they were pulling up onto a New York beach, the Bat-sub now morphing into a Bat-tank and then back into a Batwing once they had found an empty freeway to use as an airstrip.

"Batwing VI to mission control, initiating camouflage routine two, ETA twelve minutes. Over."

"Copy that Batwing VI," came the familiar purr, "welcome home Bruce."

"Glad to be back Kitten." He smiled into the radio as both Mia and Roy made gagging motions.

Once everyone had returned to the Batcave there was little celebration as a good portion of their number were still missing. The adults and the kids belonging to them were moved back to Paradise Island, which was then cloaked. Kyle had given back the rings but was surprised when the two elder Lanterns banded together with their rings to create him a green ring and battery of his own before being evacuated by Wayne One, Nerissa, Lian, and Jason being sent with their grandparents for their own safety. Alfred was sent also while Martha was given an Amazonian honor guard for as long as she was in the hospital. Only Young Justice, plus Linda, Kyle, and Krypto remained. Using the Batcomputer to compress every piece of information they had onto one thumb-drive they headed back to Happy Harbor and Mount Justice, catching a ride with Luthor again.

Luthor helped Robin and Wally comb over the information they had gotten their hands on, filling in the blanks where he was able to. They had dinner, Lex staying for the meal and complimenting M'gann and Robin on the food. After that Lex bid farewell and most of the teens headed to bed. And all was calm until about twelve am, when Wally was awoken by a shout. As the alarms weren't going off he knew they weren't under attack. He uncurled from Linda looking around their quarters blearily. There was a bolt of lightning and there stood Jay. However, he wasn't solid or distinct.

"Grandpa Jay!"

"Wally…not much time…" Jay spoke but it was an echo, "Speed force…we're in the speed force…" his image started to waver, as if on a cruddy old television, before fading out completely."

"_**!**_" Wally managed to wake up the entire team, least of all poor Linda who woke up, pulling a gun from under her pillow and nearly shot him before realizing what was going on.

"_**?**_" Robin replied after coming to Wally, using the same tone and volume.

"The speed force! They're in the speed force! I gotta get in there and get them out!" He was zipping to his closet, digging through his laundry to find his costume.

"Whoa! Slow down there Wally!" Robin ordered as everyone gathered, being hit by clothes, "What's going on? Who's in the speed force?"

"Grandpa Jay, Uncle Barry, the Twins! They're all in the speed force—I need a track, a big track, somewhere I can really gain speed—Gonna take a lot of speed to break through—"

"Slow down Wally! How do you know this?" Robin demanded.

"Grandpa Jay, he came to me! He told me himself!" Wally replied shortly, pulling out a brand new pair of Flash tested running shoes and lacing up.

"It was probably just a dream Wally," Robin tried to break it to him easily, "We're all under a lot of stress and you were probably asleep but thinking you we—"

"NO!" Wally was now nose to nose with Robin, staring the younger hero down, "Richard! I believed you when no one else would! Remember the Plant Bat-clone job! How everyone was saying you were nuts? Who believed you then? Even when you were in a loony bin?"

Robin stared at his friend, before closing his eyes and nodding, inhaling and exhaling, "Okay Wally, I believe you. Star City has a race-track…I'll get Bruce to rent it for a day or two…"

The next day Wally stood in the starting gates of Star City's Lucky Laps horseracing tracks. Young Justice, and Luthor, sat in a viewing box trackside.

"Ready Wally?" Robin asked through a megaphone. Kid Flash nodded, bending down into a starter's position. Linda watched through a set of binoculars, biting her lip worriedly. She regretted her promise to not try to stop him. In fact, she was to go nowhere near him while he was running.

Robin slammed his fist down on the button that opened the gates, with a starting bell. And Wally was off, slowly pushing past his previous limits, his form blurring into a fuzzy red and yellow streak. One lap, two, three, four, five, six— "He's not moving fast enough." Lex muttered.

Robin spun to stare at him, "How fast does he need to—"

"Speed of sound at least, probably many times more than that," Lex stood up, grabbing the megaphone, "Wallace West, you're a pathetic excuse for a hero! Sidekick! Why CADMUS would clone you I don't know!"

"You lost!" Wally responded through gritted teeth.

"No!" Wally broke into a sheer death sprint, speeding up significantly. Young Justice ran to the track's side just as Wally fell. He stood up, staggering. Electricity arched over his body, "I feel kinda…funny." He began fading away from sight.

"_**Wally**_!" Linda cried out.

Conner ran forward, but Wally had faded out. Luthor looked shocked, dare one say even horrified, "What do you know? I didn't mean to kill him." Conner, looking absolutely furious, lifted Luthor up by the throat, his eyes turning a dangerous red. M'gann tried to stop him but Robin grabbed her, holding her back. Luthor stared down at his son, wondering if patricide ran in the blood.

"I am not like you, I will not kill my father," Conner spoke calmly, reading his father's question in the man's face. "Right now I wish to heaven I were but I'm not."

"Conner, everyone," M'gann began, hand to her temple, "Wally's still alive. I'm in telepathic contact with him. His spirit's weak, and it's growing weaker. But he's still here."

Artemis dashed forward as everyone was frozen, thrusting her hand into the spot where Wally had disappeared from and opening a portal. Out of the portal were flung Jay, Barry, Don and Dawn but Wally didn't reappear along with them. Roy and Kaldur'ahm hurried Luthor and the speedsters to the waiting Bat-Hawk to get them back to Mount Justice…

"Artemis?" Wally's voice echoed from the portal, "It's so beautiful here. There's this force-the speed force…it's calling me home. I have to go now…"

"No!" Artemis roared, because goddamn it, she wasn't going to lose another member of her family, "Wally! Take my hand!" she felt his hand grasp hers and she began pulling with all her might.

"I'm here too Wally!" Kyle latched onto Artemis' free hand, putting his own strength into hers. M'gann grabbed his free hand while Conner grabbed hers calling, "We're all here!" Linda finally jumped in; keeping her promise and helping them pull him out. She grabbed Conner's free hand and then felt Robin grab hers. (His strength wasn't much but he'd be damned if he let his best friend die.) "You've got to come back to us!" Linda screamed to Wally. With one final tug they all went flying as he came free.

He collapsed to his knees, finding Linda holding him steady; "I don't think I can ever go that fast again." He told his friends, his family, his Linda, "If I do, I don't think I'm coming back." His arms wrapped around Linda and he rested his head on her shoulder, trying to regulate his breath and slow his heart.

Later, once they had been checked out, the four found speedsters were moved to Paradise Island, along with Martha Kent and her Amazonian guards, via the Bat-hawk with Kyle and M'gann as escorts. Wally thanked Luthor for pushing him, and pardoned him for causing his near death experience.

Only three people were still missing now. Jonathon, Clark, and Chris Kent were still missing.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part Five:**

"Mister Luthor, your one o'clock appointment is here."

He pressed the intercom, replying, "Thank you Miss Tresser; please send her in."

The doors to his office opened and in walked Cheshire. She was dressed in a business shirt, suit, and skirt and her dark hair was up in a tight bun; no one would ever believe she was an assassin.

"Miss Nguyen," he greeted genially, "please take a seat."

She did so silently.

"I would like to…contract your services." He began, pushing a written contract towards her slightly, "the persons I wish taken care of are very powerful and very troublesome…"

Cheshire had picked up the contract and was reading through it thoroughly. An eyebrow went up, "You will see to it that Lian has a bodyguard?"

"Yes."

"And the money…?"  
>"I will give you half before each elimination and the rest afterwards."<p>

"And I have free reign, the choice of methods is mine?"

"Yes, as long as it cannot be traced…"

"Then I accept your offer," she smiled almost evilly and began to sign the contract as need be.

"Perfect." Lex spoke as he signed the contract himself and made sure he had all her signatures. He then pulled a set of keys out, unlocked the bottom, and biggest, drawer of his desk, and pulled out a small case and a file. He placed the contract in their former place.

He slid the case over to his new employee who opened it to find half her payment, as promised. She then shut the case and opened the target file.

Her eyebrow arched up again, "A Flash."

"Is that a problem?" Luthor asked.

"Not at all." She tucked the file inside her coat, picking up the money case, and said, as she stood, "Good day Mister Luthor, I shall be in contact when it is accomplished…"

**ON PARADISE ISLAND **

"We have narrowed down who is The Light," Robin gave the presentation to their mentors as his comrades were spending time with their children. Wally was working the projector, "We have figured that each of you are represented by a villain to create a total of seven. Lex Luthor, representing Superman. He is of course on our side now. Professor Zoom and Gorilla Grodd for the Flash-family. Queen Bee for the joint Justice League, Merlyn for the Queen Family and Ra's and Talia al Ghul for the Bat-clan. Each has plenty of motive for engineering the creation, birth, and then kidnapping of our children to raise to obey their every command. Unfortunately, each has disappeared from our radars but we are actively searching and have as many law enforcement agencies aiding us on all seven continents and below the waves as possibly. We will find them and we will eliminate the threat they pose to our families."

"The Cadaver probably has Superman," Wally added, "'Cause he's the only one with the resources to hold him for any length of time. We just have to find his base, or bases. Oh, and we found Red Tornado. He was in pieces at the Smells' Junkyard in Coast City. We've got S.T.A.R Labs putting him back together."

"Right." Robin nodded, "And normal crime rates are down all across the U.S. Murder is down, rape is down, kidnapping and/or abducting is down. We have almost everything under control…"

"And your grades?" Batman asked his protégé.

"B minus Average." Robin gulped; Bruce had always made it clear that his academic life would always come first, before heroing. Batman's eyes narrowed but he gave a short nod.

"How about yours Wally?" Barry asked,

"C plus average." Wally replied, "Linda's averaging at about a B- too, Artemis and Roy are C-ers. Kyle's with me at C+ average. Kal's been promoted to overseer of the more delicate fish at the HHA. Oh and I've been made assistant manager of Keystone's Pizza Manor…Like Robin said, we have almost everything under control."

"Daddy!" Lian came running in, dragging along Roy, "You gotta see what I can do! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" she let go of Roy to grab Dick and Wally's hands and drag them out of the meeting hall. Roy rubbed his shoulder and followed after.


	7. Chapter 7

**Part Six:**

"I don't believe it." Wally repeated as Robin double and then triple checked the fingerprint identity of the headless body at their crime scene. The body was that of a man, probably around the same age as Barry, was in a lightning yellow speed suit, and had an arrow sticking out of the small of his back.

"Eobard Thawne," Robin repeated his findings.

"It can't be! An arrow can't catch a Flash, even a reverse one!"

"Wally, I've checked all ten fingerprints! And then his entire handprints! Short of finding his head and checking his irises I have to say this is Eobard Thawne, aka Professor Zoom aka The Reverse Flash. He is dead." Robin began collecting evidence, planning to have Conner completely incinerate the corpse so the villain couldn't be brought back.

"Who could have made that shot then? Wally demanded incredulously.

"Only three people have the skill, motive, and arrow needed." Robin had removed the arrow, finding it to be laced with a slow acting, painful, paralytic.

"Narrow that down to one," Roy appeared, "Artemis and I both have alibis." Roy slipped on a pair of latex gloves, squatting onto his heels, taking the arrow from his friend and examining it, "But this isn't one of his."

"How do you know that?" Wally demanded.

Roy pulled an arrow from his quiver, showing them the butt of it, "When you're doing archery like we do you have to make sure the bow twine won't split the arrow down the middle when you release it. We all make our arrows the same way, because Oliver learned while stranded on an island and we learnt from him. We plug the end of the shaft with a piece of oak, the body being of yew. See? This one here," he held up the murder weapon, showing them the end of it, "Uses jade. Not one of ours by a long shot. Also whoever made this one used Eastern techniques, not Western. This one will literally sing when you fire it, a whistling sound. It's a show arrow; the murderer wanted it to be found." He re-quivered his own arrow, asking, "Have any idea about the head?"

"Everyone else's looking for it," Robin replied, "Whatever took it off was some sort of blade, maybe an oriental one if the arrow's Eastern. He was alive when he lost his head. Any idea what the tip's coated in?"

"Yeah, but it's unlikely."

"This's a very unlikely murder Roy."

"There's a very rare poisonous frog from the Amazon River, the locals rub the head over the frog's skin to coat the head with the frog's poison; but it's been put onto the endangered species list like five years back. No one not a scientist is allowed to touch it now."

"How many people know about the frog?"

"Other than the locals, us and…Cheshire…" Roy trailed off, looking at the arrow.

"Maybe she's still in Mama Bear mode?" Wally suggested.

"Maybe…"

The rest of the team showed up, Kaldur'ahm speaking for all of them, "We could not locate the severed head."

"Alright." Robin stood up, backing up, "Conner, you know what to do…"

The clone activated his heat vision, destroying the body.

**IN METROPOLIS, LEXCORP BUILDING**

"Mister Luthor**, **a Miss Cheshire is here…"

"Send her in…"

Cheshire came into his office, carrying a large satchel. She was again dressed as a businesswoman.

"Mister Luthor, Thawne is no longer an issue." She pulled Thawne's head from the satchel. His eyes were wide open, the blue already opaque. His brain stem was sticking out from his severed neck and she was holding him by his hair.

"Very good." He pressed a button on his phone, "Mister Jacobs, would you come here for a minute?"

"Right away sir." Within minutes Ken Jacobs, head of the cleaning staff, appeared. "Yes Mister Luthor?"

"I need you to destroy this," Luthor pointed at the satchel, Thawne's head being back inside it, "and all that's inside. No evidence to remain."

"Yes sir." Jacobs took the satchel and left.

"Ready for your next target?" Luthor asked his employee brightly.

"Yes." She nodded. He handed her two metallic suitcases full of money and another file. She opened the file, "A queen…interesting…"

She tucked the file into her suit and bid her employer farewell, leaving quickly.

**HAPPY HARBOR, MOUNT JUSTICE**

"Does Cheshire really have the skill needed to get someone like Thawne?" Linda asked, as she sparred with Kaldur'ahm using her broadsword and a small rounded metal shield.

"She is an assassin, worked for the League of Assassins once or twice." Artemis replied as she and Robin worked.

"Especially if she poisoned him beforehand to slow him down." Roy added. He was working with M'gann on her hand to hand combat. Wally and Conner were having a foot race out around the mountain. Kyle was on Paradise Island, doing drills with his mentors.

"Yes," Kaldur'ahm joined in even as he parried fluidly, "it is highly likely that Cheshire slowed Professor Zoom in some way before she carried out her assignment…"

"Wait," M'gann broke in, "wouldn't Thawne know how not to be poisoned?"

"Villains can be surprisingly Genre Blind." Robin replied, having Artemis in a headlock, "but it makes busting them way easier. Are we all in agreement that Cheshire was hired?"

"Yes."

"Uh-huh."

"Yeah sure."

"Makes as much sense as anything else."

"Yes."

"So, the question is—" Artemis had flipped Robin onto his back, "who hired her?"

"Luthor," M'gann replied simply. "He has the means and a motive."

"The boys." Kaldur'ahm said, "The sooner the Light's gone he can start grooming Jason and Chris for his business, his agenda."

"No, not his agenda." M'gann shook her head, "He let me search his mind; he has totally benign intentions for all three of them. He's even going to put aside his issues with Clark for them. He genuinely loves Conner, Jason, and Chris."

"Well he did mention he's been trying to have an heir for awhile now," Robin added as he had Artemis pinned beneath him, "and he did have a son before, Jerry White, but he died really young. Before his teens. Urgh!" Artemis flipped their positions.

"I win bird-boy." She said, getting up off him, adding, "Okay, so we got a dad and grandpa Papa Wolf and an assassin Mama Bear, both with almost no morals. What're we gonna do about them? I say we let 'em do their work…"

Everyone else nodded their agreement.

"I hate to say this," Robin spoke as he got up, "but we can't."

"We don't have much evidence against her," Roy reminded him, "in fact it's just an arrow and our guesswork. No court would convict her on that alone. And if we do catch her she probably won't give up Luthor."

"But she's killing people!"

"Yeah, the bad guys; if she can get it to where I can bring my baby girl home then I won't stop her unless I have to." Artemis said. The other parents nodded, agreeing with her words.

"I want the kids back too," Robin bit back angrily, "and our parents. But we can't pick and choose what bad guys are really bad and what bad guys are useful enough to be let go! We're not above the law!"

"No, we're not," Artemis agreed just as heatedly, "if we were we'd be able to clean this mess up and everyone'd be home where they belong!"

"Art—!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Kaldur'ahm scooped Artemis and took her from the room, probably saving Robin's life, as Roy picked up Robin to take him from the room and most probably out of the mountain for awhile.

Linda and M'gann looked at each other, totally at a loss of what to do. They agreed with both arguments and that scared them. Without saying a word Linda left the room as M'gann phased out.


	8. Chapter 8

**Part Seven: **

In the following weeks assumed members of the Light turned up dead, all beheaded while alive and all heads missing but other than those facts nothing tied the murders together. However, it soon came down to Ra's and Talia al Ghul being the only living Light members…

And Young Justice still could not locate them! Not that they hadn't been trying; indeed Robin was going gray just searching.

Until early one morning, "Robin, I have the coordinates of the al Ghuls." Luthor phoned in.

Within the hour Young Justice, the Justice League with Selina and Jay, and most of the Amazon Army were heading to a remote area in the Middle East. Young Justice had caught a ride with Luthor, who was wearing an exo-skeleton that gave him inhuman abilities and relied on solar power. His plane was cloaked to such a degree and in such a manner that even Superman wouldn't be able to detect it. The Justice League with Selina and Jay was riding in Wonder Woman's invisible plane, silent and hidden. Steve Taylor, Diana's boyfriend, was apparently a Major and so had managed to requisition an army cargo plane with which to transport the Amazon Army which was lead by the Queen herself.

They used the cover of darkness to drop in, a few good miles away from the base. The three groups each broke into pairs with the odd group of three occasionally, (M'gann and Conner, Wally and Linda, Kaldur'ahm and Artemis, Roy was partnered with Adrasteia, and Robin was with Kyle for example) and began the trek.

'_Clark_, _Clark_,' J'onn was broadcasting specifically to his comrade, '_we are coming for you_.'

'_Chris_, _Chris baby, we're on our way okay?_' M'gann was broadcasting specifically to her lost son, '_Just find Grandpa Jonathan and stay by him okay?_"

In the nursery of the al Ghul base Chris perked up; his mommy and daddy finally found them! He looked around at the other kids being held there. About fifteen of them, ranging from ages six months to six years. Some had powers, others didn't. Nevertheless, all had been engineered by the Light as part of "Operation Next Generation Heroes". Chris knew what he had to do; he broke through the crib and took to the air.

'_Listen up!_' he broadcasted to the kids only, '_My mommy and daddy are coming to save us! But we need to help them!_'

'_What do you want us to do?_' asked one, a girl about six years old named Jennifer. She had control over electricity. Of all sorts.

'_Distract people. Use your powers if you have any_.'

'_Alright!_' a girl, Donna, replied. She was only two at most. She had the powers of an Amazon, being built from Amazonian DNA in a lab.

The other kids nodded. Chris then did something he loathed. Using his powers he conjured up the scariest thing he could think of and pushed the idea/image/feeling into the minds of the youngest of them. This suitably scared them, causing them to start crying and soil themselves. The crying brought in the nanny-guards assigned to them and the older kids began attacking.

While the kids were launching their attacks Clark was starting his own. Assured that the cavalry was coming he broke his manacles like the tissue paper they were to him and overpowered the guards. He broke his father free, handing the man a dagger and shield taken from a guard, "Here Pa; the League's coming but we're going to have to be proactive…"

"Lead the way son." Jonathan replied calmly. He's been through the hell of 'Nam and back, a few ninjas weren't a big deal.

Outside Robin and Kyle had found the base, "We need a distraction."

"Right." Kyle nodded, "I've got that covered…" he flew above the base and conjured up five or six 'Pits of The Abandoned Regiment'.

"What the hell is that thing?" Robin demanded as Kyle landed beside him and they watched as his creations went to work.

"Monster from the 4th edition of D&D." Kyle replied with pride, "An undead beast created by a mass grave of soldiers left to die after battle. Their spirits were just hanging around; wanting revenge on old al Ghul…Beautiful isn't it?"

"That's just sick and wrong dude."

"I know, but it's still awesome."

"Yeah. Can it hurt them?"

"Nah, it just scares the pee out of them and lets them waste their strength and bullets if they have any."

"Okay." He noticed the others had arrived, all of them. Every one of them and they were all surrounding the base from various directions. Robin signaled to Batman, Batman signaled to Hippolyta and they began their assault of the compound.


	9. Chapter 9

**Part Eight:**

The battle that followed was no less than epic, rivaling the greatest wars of great nations. However, it would also be extremely boring to commit to word and paper and ink without visual aids and it'd be equally as boring to read. So, suffice to say there was much ass-kicking on the good guys' parts and not so much ass-kicking on the DEMONS parts.

All in all our heroes made it through the battle mostly intact, detachments were sent to deal with Ra's and Talia and find Chris.

Clark was being held back with most of the League, Young Justice, and the Amazon Army, giving Robin, J'onn, and Hippolyta all the details of his and his father's captivity. Lex hung back, talking quietly with Jonathan.

Wally screamed, drawing all eyes to him. He was supporting Linda and they could see her guts hanging out from a slice across her belly. Whatever blade was used had cut through her reinforced gold armor. Clark, the nearest, quickly zipped to them, stuffed her guts back into her abdomen, took the dying girl, and jumped into the nearby Lazarus Pit. In the magical elixir that was the Pit he broke away her fitted armor, allowing the restorative to get to all parts of her.

"Wally!" Robin grabbed his friend, trying to pit him from the Pit's side, "You gotta get away from there! She'll be crazy when she gets back out!" Kaldur'ahm and Artemis came and aided Robin in his endeavor of pulling the speedster away and keeping him restrained.

In the Pit something was going awry; Superman felt his powers leeching into Linda, empowering her. He still had them of course, but it was like they had copied themselves into the girl. (He also felt like he was losing years, old wounds were healing; the bath was acting like a yellow sun to his body).

However soon he felt her begin to fight his hold and so they surfaced. She was coughing and sputtering but the characterizing madness caused by a dip in a Lazarus Pit was not affecting her (or Clark for that matter), instead she gasped, "Wally?"

"Linda!" Wally broke free, vibrating his molecules to where he could phase out of his friends' holds, and came to the Pit's side, helping her out, asking, "You alright?"

"Yeah," she replied, "what happened?"

"Your guts fell out and you passed out from blood loss!"

"Oh," she whispered, "I guess it wasn't just a scratch."

He laughed quietly, with relief, "No I guess not."

Linda smiled and looked back, finding Clark still chest deep. She turned around, saying, "Grab my hand Mister Kent."

"Mister Kent is my Pa," Clark laughed, "call me Clark." He grabbed her hand, preparing to step up from the Pit on his own when she lifted him easily, up into the air, and set him onto his feet on dry ground.

"Oh my goddesses!" Hippolyta gasped.

"Holy-" Artemis swore

"Sinestro's ring!" Kyle swore

"My gods!" Kaldur'ahm spoke

"This is overwhelming…" was Robin.

"Zombie Jesus on a tricycle, wearing a tutu and drinking tea with the Queen of England!" was Wally's sizing up of the situation.

"Sweet merciful Rao!" Clark himself swore, his eyes bugging out.

"Um, guys!" the radio came to life, "Cheshire beat us!"

"We're coming Roy." Young Justice, and Clark, raced to his location to find him and Batman standing over two beheaded bodies.

"DNA, fingerprints, and handprints match." Batman rumbled, "Clark, destroy the bodies."

Clark did as bid, incinerating the corpses. While he was doing that Batman and Robin both began hacking into the computer systems.

"We found Chris and…more kids…" the radio came to life again, drawing them into the Nursery to find…

"Dear gods, how many are there?" Robin demanded, seeing a horde of children.

"About thirty," Hal replied, as Conner and M'gann were cuddling Chris close and not listening to much else.

"What're we going to do?" Clark demanded, eyes wide.

"Everything we can."


	10. Chapter 10

**Part Nine: The Short Term Epilogue**

The next few weeks were a fury of trying to find parents and reuniting families. Some like Jennifer Pierce had parents to go back to (her father was Black Lightning, her mother a civilian), others like the two year old Timothy Drake had parents but they had been killed during his abduction (both had been civilians and Tim as he was called seemed perfectly ordinary with no superpowers at all) and so had been adopted by older heroes and heroines, usually ones with similar powers (Tim was adopted by the Waynes). Still others, a blissful few, like Donna were created in a lab and thus had no parents (Wally and Linda had taken her in) and were thus placed with older heroes and heroines of a similar power type if not of the same species.

Linda was found to have the same power set as Conner after her Lazarus bath, putting her on par with the Amazons ability wise. However, she was not affected by Kryptonite of any sort. She was thus also adopted into the Kents.

Cheshire brought in the al Ghuls' heads to Luthor and got her payment. She had also set up a week every month where she would stay in town to be with Lian and teach her a few skills.

Lex and Clark had a heartfelt discussion one night, with J'onn and Diana as guards in case of any double crossing on Luthor's part, and Luthor finally got over his issues with 'The Alien' and agreed to seek counseling. In return he would be allowed to spend time with Conner, Jason, and Chris with only one League member on hand.

M'gann had finally been able to settle Jason down for the night, he was extremely clingy and Conner was off training in a new power with Clark, and was thus able to head out of the nursery. She paused at the doorway, turning to look over the kids. Jason, Chris, and Nerissa all still shared a room while Lian and Donna bunked together in another.

"Strange is it not?" Kaldur'ahm spoke as he appeared.

"Yeah it is." M'gann nodded, "So much in so little time."

"Yes, sometimes I wonder whether I should thank the Light, without them…"

"Our kids wouldn't exist," M'gann finished, "Yeah." She sighed, smiling, "At least they're safe and finally home."

"Yes. Though I do worry about what the future may hold for them."

"So do I Kal, so do I," she laughed softly, "but it's too late tonight to worry about things so out of our control. The others and the kids have the right idea, let's go to sleep and let tomorrow's problem be tomorrow's worry."

"Yes, goodnight M'gann." Kaldur'ahm bid and took his leave.

"Goodnight." She locked down the nursery, setting the defense mechanisms. She retired to her bed, trying to silence her fears of the coming years.

Whatever would come would come and they'd meet it head on. They had dealt with the worst; surely they could handle anything that was thrown at them.

**THE END**


End file.
